Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Acclaimed dancer-choreographer Akram Khan 'speaks tremendously of tremendous things' (Financial Times) and this new Giselle reimagines the classic narrative ballet for the 21st Century. Giselle had become a former garment factory migrant worker, Albrecht, a member of the wealthy factory-owning class. An abandoned 'ghost factory' haunted by the memory of female migrant workers, many of them victims of industrial accidents, replaces the traditional glade of Act II. There, Giselle's desire to break the cycle of violence will lead her to reconciliation with Albrecht and his release from the retributive justice of the Wilis. "Giselle has been transformed for the ENB by Akram Khan into the ballet event of the year. Staggeringly beautiful and utterly devastating, it is an electrifying triumph which any dance or theatre fan must not miss." (The Daily Express)

Also available on Blu-ray

Ferdinand Hérold
LA FILLE MAL GARDÉE

Colas – Carlos Acosta
Lise – Marianela Nuñez
Simone – William Tuckett
Alain – Jonathan Howells

The Royal Ballet
The Orchestra of the Royal Opera House
Anthony Twiner, conductor

Frederick Ashton, choreographer
Osbert Lancaster, set design

Recorded live at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London, 2 February 2005.

Bonus: Cast gallery and illustrated synopsis

Picture format: NTSC 16:9 anamorphic
Sound format: LPCM Stereo / 5.1 Surround sound
Region code: 0 (All regions)
Menu language: English
Running time: 112 mins

R E V I E W:

A delightful production … considerable charm and appeal.

Choreographer Sir Frederick Ashton was born in September 1904, so it was always likely that the Royal Ballet – of which he was Director for most of the 1960s – would take the opportunity to celebrate his centenary with revivals of some of his best works.

My colleague Ian Lace has already given a very warm welcome to Opus Arte’s DVD of the 2005 revival of Ashton’s 1952 production of Delibes’s Sylvia (see review). Now this new release, from the same television/DVD producers, is likely to offer just as much – if not more – pleasure to admirers of both the choreographer and several of the Royal Ballet’s most accomplished artistes.

The origins of the score are somewhat obscure. The earliest music – dating from 1789 - was cobbled together by an unknown hand from a variety of popular melodies. But by 1828 it was considered sufficiently dated for Ferdinand Hérold to be commissioned to rearrange and supplement it, using not just his own material but also unauthorized extracts from pieces by Donizetti, Rossini and others.

Hérold’s score held the field for less than 40 years, though, before it in turn was considered so old-fashioned that it was superseded by one penned by Peter Ludwig Hertel. Thus, from the 1860s onwards, it was Hertel’s music – at various times added to substantially by Drigo, Pugni, Minkus and Delibes, not to mention Anton Rubinstein and a certain Johann Armsheimer – that was associated with the La fille mal gardée story.

Had Ashton had a grander conception for his planned 1960 Covent Garden production, he might well have used the by now traditional Hertel score. But instead he envisaged a simple, pastoral, light-hearted and pastel-shaded interpretation of the old story – Watteau rather than Winterhalter. Thus, having retrieved Hérold’s long-neglected music from the archives, he asked John Lanchbery to edit and re-orchestrate it. [Ironically enough, a single bit of Hertel did eventually find its way into the new version and, as the theme of the famous clog dance, can be heard in one of the ballet’s best loved episodes!]

La fille mal gardée – yet another story of young lovers thwarting an ambitious parent’s plan to marry off one of them to a far wealthier suitor - is now considered the quintessential Ashton ballet and is certainly the best loved. The choreography’s apparent - but not actual! - simplicity and its sheer joie de vivre work in perfect harmony with the undemanding light-hearted story and the tuneful 1828 score to ensure that audiences invariably leave the theatre with faces wreathed in smiles. That would certainly have been so as patrons left the Royal Opera House on 2 February 2005 – and thankfully the BBC’s cameras were there to record the occasion.

While not having any great emotional depths to plumb in their roles, attractive and charismatic soloists Marianela Nuñez and Carlos Acosta are utterly convincing as youthful lovers. She is an exceptionally pretty girl, whereas he is the epitome of a virile and handsome young swain. Moreover, unlike many ballet productions, this is one case where the protagonists look genuinely and appropriately young. In fact, Nuñez was, at the time, just 23 and the Royal Ballet’s youngest Principal – though mere youth was clearly no handicap as she received, that same year, the Best Female Dancer accolade in the Critics’ Circle National Dance Awards. Acosta, though actually nine years older, makes an ideal visual match – as his many admirers will certainly testify.

The pair are also very well matched as dancers and offer well-nigh perfect interpretations and performances. Ashton’s choreography may not offer too much in the way of flashy opportunities to bring down the house, but it is sufficiently taxing to require the dancers to demonstrate complete concentration and immaculate technique. Both are in clear evidence here.

As Widow Simone, the domineering mother determined to engineer an advantageous – if loveless – marriage for her daughter, William Tuckett plays the role for laughs. In full pantomime dame mode and equipped with a range of wonderfully exaggerated facial expressions, he certainly succeeds. He can, though, dance too – although I would have liked to have heard the clack-clack of his clogs more clearly over the orchestra, so as to emphasize his skillful footwork in the famous highlight solo.

Jonathan Howells’s interpretation of Alain, Widow Simone’s preferred rich-but-dim suitor for her daughter, is again strong on comedy but he also conveys an air of pathos that adds considerably to the role and was clearly appreciated by the Covent Garden audience.

The production keeps the corps de ballet especially busy portraying various types of cheerful, good natured country folk. These are remarkably sophisticated rustics, however – at least when it comes to their ability to interpret Ashton’s intricate, fluid patterns on stage. The maypole dance preceding the storm that brings the first act to a close - itself a striking coup de théâtre - offers an excellent example of the company’s strength in full ensemble, as does the exuberant finale to the whole ballet.

Meanwhile, conductor Anthony Twiner directs an appropriately jaunty and light-hearted account of the score and the Covent Garden orchestra responds with aplomb throughout.

The set is from designs by Osbert Lancaster who was, at that time well-known as a professional cartoonist for the Daily Express. Its simple, cartoon-like qualities and the exaggeratedly clichéd French peasant costumes also fit the mood of this delightful production perfectly and add measurably to its already considerable charm and appeal.

-- Rob Maynard, MusicWeb International

Celibidache conducts the Orchestra Sinfonica di Teatro della RAI in Turin in 1969.

REGIONS: All Regions
PICTURE FORMAT: 1080i
LENGTH: 191 Mins
SOUND: 2.0 & 5.0 PCM
SUBTITLES: ENGLISH/FRENCH/GERMAN/SPANISH/ITALIAN (extra features)
NO OF DISCS: 2

Based on the Alexandre Dumas novel that also inspired the stories of Verdi’s La Traviata and Hollywood’s Moulin Rouge, John Neumeier creates a riveting dance drama around the famous woman of lore, La Dame aux camélias. The passionate tale of Marguerite Gautier and Armand Duval unfolds ingeniously through a drama-within-a-drama as they meet at the theatre during a performance of Manon Lescaut. So begin their romantic adventures in Paris, brought to life by Neumeier’s intense and refined choreographic language. Chopin’s ravishing music highlights this exceptional neo-classical ballet, featuring the star dancers of the Paris Opéra Ballet. This lavish production, filmed live at the Palais Garnier in High Definition and full surround sound, is all about love, passion, danger and glorious dancing from one of the best ballet companies in the world.

Marguerite Gautier: Agnès Letestu
Armand Duval: Stéphane Bullion
Monsieur Duval: Michaël Denard
Prudence Duvernoy: Dorothée Gilbert
Manon Lescaut: Delphine Moussin
Des Grieux: José Martinez
Olympia: Eve Grinsztajn
Gaston Rieux: Karl Paquette
Le Duc: Laurent Novis
Nanine: Béatrice Martel
Le Comte de N.: Simon Valastro

The Paris Opera Ballet
Orchestra of The Opera national de Paris
Conductor: Michael Schmidtsdorff
Stage Director: John Neumeier

Recorded live at the Palais Garnier, Paris, on 2nd, 5th and 8th July 2008.

Plus
Illustrated synopsis.
Cast gallery.
Flashback to the Lady of camellias.

Reviews
‘John Neumeier has created a ballet in which emotions go crescendo … Agnes Letestu, the great dramatic heroine, triumphs in this ballet danced to music by Chopin.’ Figaro

This is a live recording of a piano recital the great virtuoso Jorge Bolet gave 1988, in Schwetzingen (Germany), two years before his death. The performed works are by composers Jorge Bolet favoured most. This is a re-release of a SWR bestseller. When the first Schwetzingen Festival was held in 1952, even the optimists among the founders could not imagine that this was the beginning of a success story that would make it one of the major German festivals of the post war era. The "Schwetzingen script" of the fifties, "Comission new things, rediscover the old, give up and coming youngsters a chance," still holds today and is as modern as it was back then. Because it was founded by the Suddeutscher Rundfunk public broadcasting company and kept going after it's merger into Sudwestrundfunk, this festival has been documented as no other. From the very first day on, every musical event was recorded and broadcast. Thus the Schwetzingen Festival became in time the biggest classical radio festival in the world, with nearly 550 broadcasts on all continents. The list of performers and ensembles reads like an artists' "Who's Who" of recent decades. For the "Schwetzingen Festival Edition," we are opening up the archives and allowing you to enjoy some of the greatest moments in music.

Paraphrases, transcriptions and variations on operatic themes for piano solo. Some well known pieces here and some very rare pieces, all stunningly performed and the most wonderful programme of delights. An outstanding collection performed with exemplary grace and style." - Julian Haylock (International Piano)

The Pesaro Festival’s new offering in 2013 was an off-the-wall production of Rossini’s popular comedy, ‘The Italian Girl in Algiers’, presented as a Swinging Sixties, James Bond adventure, set in the desert oil fields of the North Africa. Davide Livermore’s gag-a-minute, helter-skelter romp followed an alarmingly life-like air-crash, which delivered the ‘Italian girl’ from Rome into the clutches of the local oil baron, Mustafa. All three lead singers (Alex Esposito as Mustafa, the high tenor Yijie Shi as the young lover Lindoro, and Anna Goryachova as the agile-voiced mezzo-soprano of the title role) were met with the audience’s roaring approval of the evening’s entertainment. ‘‘Italian bass Alex Esposito commanded our full attention as Mustafà…a spirited, charismatic actor of inextinguishable theatrical energy.’’ - Opera Today “Davide Livermore’s Rossini stagings are filled with wisdom and wit. Here again, he is sure handed.’’ - Seen and Heard International

Samson Francois was considered an enfant terrible, eccentric and flamboyant; his life and demeanor were rather provocative and subjectivist. This release offers the rare occasion to hear the French virtuoso in a live recording from 1960, containing virtuosity milestones of the piano repertoire, such as Chopin Piano Sonata no.2 and Sergey Prokofiev Piano Sonata no.7 as well as delicate miniatures by Mendelssohn and Debussy. In 1943, be reaching the age of 20, Samson Fran�ois won the Long-Thibaud Competition and thereafter embarked on a career, one of international scale once World War II had ended. Even during the war, Jacques Thibaud brought Fran�ois to the attention of Walter Legge, the English recording producer turned wartime concert organiser; Fran�ois was soon flown to England for an extended tour of factories and camps. From 1945 he toured regularly in Europe, and in 1947 he made his first appearances in the USA. He subsequently played all over the globe, including Communist China in 1964. Concentrating on the Romantic piano literature, and especially the French repertoire, he was acclaimed for his performances of Franz Liszt, Robert Schumann, and Fr�d�ric Chopin, as well as Gabriel Faur�, Debussy, and Ravel.

These legendary recordings of Alicia de Larrocha performing Mozart and Beethoven have been digitally remastered from the Original SWR tapes. The Mozart was performed with the Radio-Sinfonieorchester under the direction of Garcia Navarro. The original performance in 1986 proved Larrocha’s intimate relationship with the works of Mozart.; The Beethoven recording was made in 1977 when Larrocha was 54 years old. She performs the work with aplomb, alongside the SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg, under the direction of Ernest Bour.

Jose Cura, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Yvonne Naef and Veronica Villarroel lead the star cast of Verdi's blazingly passionate opera, in Elijah Moshinsky's new Royal Opera House production co-produced with Teatro Real Madrid, with sets by the noted film designer Dante Ferretti and costumes by Anne Tilby.

The present release contains Hector Berlioz's complete concert overtures, including the one written for his early opera Les francs-juges, superbly performed by the SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg directed by the French conductor Sylvain Cambreling. French composer Hector Berlioz wrote a number of overtures, many of which remain concert staples. They include not only overtures intended to introduce operas, but also independent concert overtures. The album opens with one of the most popular overtures, Waverly, Op. 1. Composed in 1828, it was inspired by Sir Walter Scott’s Waverly novels. Also included are Le Carnaval romain, Op. 9, a standalone overture intended for concert performance made up of material from the opera Benvenuto Cellini, Le Corsaire, Op. 21, and others. This album is part of a new re-release series (Century Classics) consisting of SWR music bestsellers. The series is competitively priced, optically highly attractive and contains acclaimed SWR recordings mostly of the SWR orchestras and their chief conductors.

Friederich Kuhlau was among the most important early Romantic composers in Denmark, becoming known as the ‘Danish Beethoven’ for his popular works for flute. The etude-like Piano Sonata, Op. 127 reveals a deep expressiveness reminiscent of Chopin’s studies, while the sophisticated Piano Sonata, Op. 8a shows Kuhlau’s contemplative, darker side before closing with typical virtuoso esprit. The charm and elegance of the Sonatina, Op. 21 No. 1 has delighted piano students for generations. Jens Luhr was born in the same town as Friedrich Kuhlau, Uelzen, in northern Germany. There at the local music school, Luhr played- along with many other young piano students- the Kuhlau Sonatinas. He went on to study at the prestigious conservatories of music in Hannover, Wurzburg, Basle, and Leipzig. Luhr is known as a soloist and chamber musician, as well as being an interpreter of contemporary music, playing or taking part in several premieres. In 2012 and 2014 he won second prize at the International Music Competition of France in the highest category for pianists.

Classical Music

Also available on Blu-ray

Giuseppe Verdi
AIDA

Aida – Hui He
Radames – Marco Berti
Amneris – Andrea Ulbrich
Amonasro – Ambrogio Maestri
The King – Roberto Tagliavini
High Priestess – Antonella Trevisan
A messenger – Antonello Ceron

Arena di Verona Ballet
Arena di Verona Chorus and Orchestra
Daniel Oren, conductor

Gianfranco De Bosio, stage director

Recorded live at Arena di Verona, June 2012

Bonus:
- Cast gallery

Picture format: NTSC 16:9
Sound format: LPCM 2.0 / DTS 5.1
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Subtitles: English, French, German, Japanese
Running time: 150 mins
No. of DVDs: 1

Regarded at the height of his career as the foremost symphonist of his day, the young Joseph Joachim Raff was rescued from penury by Liszt, and the lyrical and self-assured Six Poemes were dedicated to his famous amanuensis as a gesture of gratitude. The Fantasie Op. 142 is a powerful example of Raff's mature piano music, while the Erinnerung an Venedig paints an effective sound picture with economy of language and distinctive harmonic piquancy.

MEYERBEER Robert le Diable • Daniel Oren, cond; Marina Poplavskaya (Alice); Patrizia Ciofi (Isabelle); Bryan Hymel (Robert); John Relyea (Bertram); Jean-François Borras (Raimbaut); Nicolas Courjal (Alberti); Royal Opera Ch & O • OPUS ARTE 1106 (2 DVDs: 211:00) Live: Covent Garden 12/15/2012

Robert le Diable marked two important firsts for Giacomo Meyerbeer (1791–1864): it was his first opera composed to a French rather than an Italian libretto, and his first collaboration with librettist and exact contemporary Eugène Scribe (1791–1861). It was a smash success upon its premiere on November 21, 1831, defining the genre of grand opera, and by some accounts was the most performed opera of the 19th century. (The act 3 ballet, in which a group of debauched nuns rise from their graves to reindulge their carnal appetites, created a sensation, though it doubtless later provided ammunition for the influential antisemitic element in the conservative wing of the Roman Catholic Church in France for attacks upon the composer at the end of the century, contemporaneous with the Dreyfus scandal and the rise of the fascist Action Française.) However, once the fashion for grand opera waned after Meyerbeer’s death, the composer and his works sank into desuetude, from which he and they have fitfully but increasingly emerged in the last 30–40 years, as former shibboleths and prejudices against him have waned and his contributions have been re-evaluated.

The booklet that accompanies this DVD release features an uncommonly intelligent essay by Robert Letellier, which argues that, contrary to the standard portrait of Meyerbeer as someone who merely catered to the bourgeois tastes of his time and sought and achieved success through spectacular but superficial musical and dramatic effects, the composer in fact had far loftier and more substantive concerns: “Much of Meyerbeer’s work as a dramatic artist focuses on the theme of faith and what this means in terms of the great choices of life....His most famous French operas [Robert le Diable, Les Huguenots, Le Prophète, L’Africaine] constitute a tetralogy in which the issues of faith, history, society and personal choice interact with the demands of intransigent religion and politics.” In the particular case of Robert le Diable, a “theological dimension” of “a spiritual drama about sin and salvation” is intertwined with such issues as “the attainment of the balanced personality, the issues of heredity and the demands of life fully lived in the present. It is also about making social and political choices between opposing and equally absorbing options: on the one hand party affiliation, the pursuit of corporal pleasure, financial acquisitiveness and sexual license; on the other, the quest for higher, spiritual and more altruistic ideals.” Moreover, Meyerbeer’s contemporaries understood the seriousness of his objectives as well, with for example the noted and highly influential author and critic Théophile Gautier (1811–1872) writing a penetrating critique of Le Prophète in 1858–59 which discussed that opera and its two predecessors as forming “an immense symbolic trilogy, filled with profound and mysterious meaning: the three principal phases of the human soul are represented there: faith, examination, and illumination.”

Since Christopher Williams provided a superb plot summary in his review in 27:1 of a 2003 CD set of the opera on Dynamic conducted by Renato Palumbo, I will omit that here and refer readers to his synopsis instead. The staging of this production is what I would term “postmodernist pastiche,” freely mixing updated elements of the setting of the plot (11th-century Italy) with those of its composition (19th-century France) and the present day. Act 1 is set in a French café that features the stereotypical red-and-white checkered tablecloths of many such establishments, but on the café roof are life-size plastic horses in neon day-glo colors (blue, green, red, orange, and yellow). The knights wear medieval suits of plate armor, but Robert wears a sport coat with portions cut away to expose the armor (apparently to signify his divided moral character, with deep longings for both good and evil), while the diabolical Bertram is clad in a dark full-body suit, plus a 19th-century full-length overcoat and enormous stovepipe hat. In act 2, the castle is a set of miniature cut-out frames of stone walls, turrets, etc., about five to six feet tall, set against a black and blue diamond checkerboard background, almost creating the effect of the characters moving through a child’s play set. Isabelle wears a kitschy headpiece consisting of a halo of little stars sticking out on wires, while Robert is now garbed in a full sport coat and open-necked dress shirt. Both Alice and Isabelle are arrayed in very simple dresses, the former in red and the latter in white. The plastic horses are now on ground level; the armor-clad knights float in, suspended in mid-air on wires, and are then lowered onto their faux steeds. In act 3, scene 1, the setting of mountainous clefts and caves is created with painted backdrops of thin black-and-white and red-and-white stripes. The ballet that follows in scene 2 has a red lattice framework backdrop and rectangular cage-like tombs from which the nuns emerge to cavort amidst gravestones. Act 4 utilizes the same set as act 2, with the addition of a throne in the foreground and the bathing of the proceedings in lime-green light. Act 5 uses an abstract stencil frame to suggest a church building, on either side of which Alice and Bertram respectively stand before cartoonish backdrops of a heavenly cloud bank and a giant dragon’s head. Somehow, this kitschy, tongue-in-cheek farrago of unmatched elements works better than the description of it sounds (it reportedly was roundly criticized in the British press); it strikes me as a little silly and at times perhaps slightly amusing, but it doesn’t disturb me or create any occasion for offense, unlike so much of current Regietheater.

The music itself strikes me as being of highly uneven character; in particular that of the first two acts seems quite ephemeral before Meyerbeer hits his dramatic stride with the opening of act 3. Even then, the best parts of the score are nowhere near a match for that of Les Huguenots, which followed a mere five years later; Meyerbeer greatly advanced in his craft during that short interval. However, this performance is musically excellent and presents the score to its best advantage. A CD recording of a live performance from Salerno, with a partially overlapping cast (Ciofi, Hymel, and Oren) was just issued by Brilliant Classics and reviewed by Lynn René Bayley in 37:1. Ciofi and Hymel are as excellent here as there: Ciofi, who has made a specialty of the role of Isabelle over the years, has in her top notes a bit of acidity and oscillation in the vibrato, but she is a committed and affecting interpreter. After taking a very brief time to warm up, Marina Poplavskaya is a superbly touching Alice, demonstrating why she is justly in demand for lyric soprano roles in opera houses all over the world. As Robert, Bryan Hymel lives up to his recent spectacular press coverage as the tenor Bryn Terfel (whom he resembles physically to no small degree); he is the real deal, with a ringing, securely produced voice possessing both heft and sheen, and is able to bang out the stratospheric high notes (even if a couple of roulades around high C and D sound a bit strained). For his part, John Relyea boldly steps into the shoes of Samuel Ramey in the role of Bertram and fills them most ably, with his firm, sonorous, sepulchral bass filling the theater and limning out the diabolical dimension of his satanic character. The supporting cast is generally fine, with the excellent Raimbaut of Jean-François Borras deserving special mention. In comparing this to the Brilliant Classics version, there is no question that this is the superior performance, with Poplavskaya, Relyea, and Borres all being notably superior to their counterparts on CD and Hymel in even better voice here. Conductor Daniel Oren has in the past struck me as being merely competent, but here he seems to have found some special inspiration and provides fine leadership from the podium that is both energetic and lyrical, while the chorus and orchestra of Covent Garden are up to their usual high standards. The recorded sound and film quality are both excellent as well. A cast gallery and a brief documentary, “The Legacy of Robert le Diable,” are provided as extras.

Like all of its predecessors on LP and CD (see the list in Bayley’s review), this version is not unabridged, though the cuts are relatively minor and far fewer than in most other versions. Likewise, by every other measure, this performance far outstrips all of those previous versions for superior singing, instrumental playing, and sound quality. It’s been far too long a wait, but at last all four of Meyerbeer’s grand operas finally have recorded performances in one medium or another (CD or DVD) that do them justice; highly recommended.

FANFARE: James A. Altena

In the prologue to Wagner's giant masterpiece, Der Ring de Nibelungen, the beginnings of an epic journey unfold when Alberich seizes the ring of gold, it's awesome power unleashing an unstoppable story of deceit, destruction, death and transfiguring love.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Young and talented Elisa Tomellini loves challenges and is used to climbing high mountain peaks. Both physical as well as musical. No wonder then that she is the first woman to perform the first version of the Etudes aprés Paganini (S.140) that Robert Schumann reviewed as “the most difficult work ever written for the piano, as is the original for the violin. Certainly only a few pianists will be able to tackle them, perhaps no more than four of five in the world.” Dynamic is proud to feature one of them. As pianists almost always play the simplified version re-written by Liszt himself in 1852, the album Paganini Études and other virtuoso piano works contains the first 1838 version that Liszt wrote inspired by the Caprices, successfully achieving on the piano an extreme virtuosity that was unprecedented in that instrument’s literature. Born in Genoa, Italy, Elisa Tomellini has been studying piano since the age of five. She was admitted to the prestigious Music Academy ‘Incontri Col Maestro’ in Imola at the age of sixteen. In 1997 she gained a diploma at the Conservatory G. Verdi in Milan. She has won several pries at international competitions such as the ‘Viotti Valsesia,’ the ‘Concorso di Cantu’ and the ‘Concorso Citta di Pavia.’

Carl Czerny penned an astonishing amount of music, including the numerous potpourris, fantasies, teaching pieces and studies for which he became known. This recording features the delightfully entertaining Concertino in C major, Op. 210/213, as well as the highly enjoyable Rondino, a work based on an enchanting theme taken from Daniel Auber’s opera comique Le Macon. A pupil and lifelong friend of Beethoven, Czerny was just 21 when he wrote the pastoral Second Grand Concerto in E flat major. Begun only twelve days after he had given the Viennese premiere of his mentor’s Emperor Concerto, the same choice of key seems a fitting homage to the grand master he so revered.

RAFF: Symphony No. 1, 'To the Fatherland'

Kasper Holten's inaugural production as Director of Opera for The Royal Opera returns to Pushkin's verse novella to reveal the shadows of memory which haunt Tchaikovsky's lyric tragedy. Using doubles to suggest the paths taken, or not taken, by its two impulsive protagonists, Holten gives eloquent voice to the loss and regret that lies at the heart of Eugene Onegin. Simon Keenlyside and Krassimira Stoyanova bring both experience and dynamic energy to the pair of protagonists, while the youthful, 'heartrending' tenor of Pavol Breslik and the idiomatic sweep of Robin Ticciati's 'inspired' conducting (The Independent) were enthusiastically received at the premiere of this visually opulent staging.

Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky
EUGENE ONEGIN

Tatyana – Krassimira Stoyanova
Eugene Onegin – Simon Keenlyside
Olga – Elena Maximova
Lensky – Pavol Breslik
Prince Gremin – Peter Rose
Madame Larina – Diana Montague

Royal Opera House Chorus and Orchestra
Robin Ticciati, conductor

Kasper Holten, stage director

Recorded live at the Royal Opera House, Feburary 2013

Picture format: NTSC 16:9
Sound format: LPCM 2.0 / DTS 5.1
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Subtitles: English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean
Running time: 154 mins
No. of DVDs: 1

Classical Music

Verdi: Giovanna d'Arco (Live)

Classical Music

SOMM Recordings is honored to release one of the last recordings made by the much-loved and admired soprano Sally Silver before her death at the age of 51 in 2018. Silver’s third release on SOMM, La vie d’une rose returns to the evocatively perfumed songs of Jules Massenet following 2015’s well-received Les amoureuses sont des folles. Accompanied again by the renowned conductor- pianist Richard Bonynge – who also provides a moving, specially written tribute – she is joined by the mezzo-soprano Christine Tocci on six duets. The 25 (of Massenet’s 285) mélodies heard here offer a marked contrast to the familiar image of the composer’s famed operatic credentials. As Massenet expert Hervé Oléon says in his authoritative booklet notes: “Massenet, the song composer, was, in his own words, rather more at home in salons – this ‘bourgeois artist at the fireside’ as he liked to describe himself”. Embracing a multitude of emotions, sacred and profane, these songs employ wide-ranging forms and a broad musical palette to always captivating ends while also revealing a composer perpetually developing, keen to experiment and looking towards the future. La vie d’une rose is produced by the late soprano’s husband Jeremy Silver (Director of the Opera School at the University of Cape Town) who also provides the translation of Hervé Oléon’s booklet notes. Of Sally Silver’s previous releases with SOMM, her first volume of Massenet songs, Les amoureuses sont des folles (SOMMCD 0151), received the coveted Orphée d’or from L’Académie du disque lyrique and was a Recording of the Month for MusicWeb International, who described it as “A pure delight... [Silver and Bonynge] bring inspired, sympathetic, thoughtfully nuanced readings to these songs”. Songs by William Vincent Wallace (SOMMCD 0131) was hailed by Classical Ear as “A release full of delightful discoveries distinguished by persuasive performances of idiomatic charm”.